Just Stopping By
by Admiralkirk
Summary: One day Sly is alone and bored, and Murray and Bentley are both busy. In desperation Sly stops by at a certain foxes apartment to pass the time. On-going fairly self contained chapters, accepting ideas and requests from anyone who has them.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Holy crap it has been quite a long time my readers(if any are still waiting from anything from me instead of just giving up. Sorry about that (bet you are annoyed of hearing that bullshit) So suddenly today I was waiting to go for a practical test and was like "Gonna have to wait two hours, what can I do to pass tha time?... WRITE A STORY, so I here it is my friends and damn has it been a long time.**

Sly was running along the roofs of France. Jumping from one building to the next using his cane whenever he needed it like when he needed to jump a large and used it as a pole vault.

Was he on a heist? Or maybe being chased? No he was just bored. Bentley and Murray both had arrangements today which left him all alone. At first he was intent with just staring at the TV for a few hours but he had been getting stir crazy. After that he decided to feed his kleptomania with some pic pocketing, but that too easy.

So after some thing thinking he had finally given up and decided to do a bit of a work out and started running along buildings for awhile.

Even this was boring, he knew the city too well, he had a route to everywhere, he hardly needed to stop and think anymore. He pushed on though, and after an hour it was starting to get around time for the sun to go down.

He panted lightly and said "Well, what can I do now?"

As luck, or maybe fate had it he happened to stop across the street from Inspector Fox's apartment. He looked over and saw the light was on, which actually surprised.

"She's not working, must be something important" he thought out loud.

He decided maybe he could bug her then, nothing made his day more then seeing her, and get under her fur.

He took a few steps back before running forward and using his cane pole vault across the street and just managed to grab the window ledge. He sighed in relief that would have been a bad fall.

He pulled himself up stealthy keeping most of his body to the side incase she saw him coming. Next he slowly worked to pull the window up. She had purposely added some extra counter measures specifically from him since he had broke into her apartment once or twice before to steal evidence. Although it was still amateur compared to his skills and within about a minute he started to pull it up only to hear…

"Come on kick the ball man, that was an easy shot!" he knew that angry voice anywhere, and from what she was saying it sounded like she was watching some kind of sport.

He had a second of hesitation, she was never happy to find him in her apartment, but usually she was in a good mood when it happened, she sounded quite angry at the player and might just attack him on sight to vent steam. He was sure that's what the ripped and torn punching bag was for last time he was here.

But his boredom got the better of him and he slowly slipped in expertly placing the window back down without a sound.

Like he suspected she was watching soccer. From what he could tell it was France vs England.

After a moment decided to finally announce his presence and so knocked on the wall almost like it were a door.

She growled "Who the hell is bugging me during the game" obviously his knock was so convincing she thought it was the door, which gave him an amazing idea.

She got up obviously pissed off heading for the door and he silently walked over to the chair next to the couch and took a seat.

"What the hell? I'm gonna kick your ass when I figure out who you are!" she said then closed the door and walked back inside.

"Show time" he thought.

As she turned the corner she was mumbling curses in Spanish when she suddenly noticed the silent raccoon in the chair and froze for about half a second before saying "COOPER!"

He waved and said "Don't worry Carm, you didn't miss anything. It went to commercial right as you left"

"What are you doing in my apartment!?" she yelled.

He shrugged "I don't know, I was bored and decided to visit someone and hang out"

"And of all your criminal friends you came to my place?!" she asked still very angry at the intrusion.

"Bentley and Murray both had plans tonight, be lucky I didn't show up hours ago, tried my hardest to pre occupy myself" he reasoned.

She growled then angrily said "What keeps me from just getting my cuffs and gun and taking you down?"

"First off I know you keep your spare cuffs and gun in your bed room which is a few paces from here giving me enough to get up run for the window and escape" he said telling her exactly how he expected to escape.

She stared at him with fury in her eyes for about a minute, she really wanted to catch him but then realized the commercials were relatively half done. She had a bet going for this game and if she didn't watch then she may get fooled into paying even if she won. If she tried to catch him then she wouldn't be able to stop herself and would chase him through the night.

Finally just as the commercials were about to end she sighed in defeat and said "FINE! You can stay, but you stay in the chair"

He nodded "Sure I just need to talk to someone"

She sat down on the farthest part of the couch from him and said "I never said we'd talk, I said you could stay"

He groaned then joked "Didn't realize I was a dog now"

She almost sarcastically said something back but wanted to watch "Just shut up"

He stayed quiet for a few minutes as it slowly became awkward. Almost to the point that he was regretting coming here but suddenly France made a big play and scored.

"YES! Good job guys, now just got to keep that lead" she said obviously in a slightly better mood now.

Even though he was sure she'd just tell him to shut up again he asked "Guess you are rooting for France?"

She almost forgot he was even there and jumped a bit "Ya, I got a bet with a co-worker"

"You bet?" he asked a bit surprised.

"Of course I do, every month all my co-workers put in ten dollars into a pot and whoever catches you gets the pot" she explained, just another reason why it was really hard to not go after him right now.

He gulped and asked "How, much is in there?"

"Almost one thousand pounds now" she said flatly.

"Oh wow" he said a bit surprised.

"Ya, so try not to piss me off cause that's a prize I am willing to get over watching the game" she threatened.

'I knew this was a stupid idea" Sly mumbled to himself regretting his actions.

She looked at him surprised "Oh really, you , actually having a bad idea?"

He rolled his eyes "Yes, I admit I had a bad idea" groaning, since she knew of his uncertainty now.

Through their talk not much had happened in the game, so they weren't missing much. Although after another minute it went to commercials again and Carmelita got up and went to the kitchen and asked "If you are staying, you want a drink?"

He surprised by the hospitality but said "Just a soda, please"

"What not a beer?" she asked confused.

"Nope, I'd rather not have my reflexes dulled incase you try to jump me" he explained.

She had no intention of jumping him now beer wasn't a problem for her, but it was good to know he was afraid of her.

So she grabbed a can of root beer and tossed it to him as she passed by before sitting down. He politely thanked her before opening it.

She took a sip of her own drink then asked "So tell me, you said your hippo and turtle friends were busy, what they doing?"

"What is this an interrogation" he joked but she gave him an annoyed look so he said "Murray is in a demolition derby while Bentley is off meeting people who can hook him up with some better equipment"

"Half expected them to be doing something illegal" she said.

"Crime isn't our entire life you know, we got hobbies, mine is watching TV and working out, like I was before I got here"

"You don't look like you work out" she said a bit confused "You look really scrawny"

"I work out in moderation, I'm not at the gym everyday for hours straight pumping iron, like Muggshot probably does" he defended himself "I still need to keep a small frame for when I do illegal stuff"

She rolled her eyes "Whatever you said Twiggy" she chuckled at the name.

He looked back and said "Hey wow, do not call me Twiggy, if I got to prove it I will take off my shirt and show you… though I'm sure that would just add onto the list of crimes I've committed somehow"

Her mind was slightly confused on whether she wanted to see that or not, but shook her head to get the ideas out of her head.

"Not like you try to show off and flirt like any other time we meet" she responded but then realized that sounded almost like a dare.

"Whatever inspector, I didn't come here to be called names, and judged" he said.

"Let me tell you right now if it was my choice it would be, right down to the court room where your name would be the 'convicted' and you'd be judged by a jury" she smartly said.

"Ha… ha… ha, very funny" he said, a bit annoyed that he walked into that.

She smirked seeing she got him there as the game came back on.

Sly was a bit wary to start talking again after being powned like that, so Carm spoke next to his surprise.

"Got a favorite team?"

He jumped from her advice "Not really, never really was into sports, may have been because when I was young I wasn't very good at them and the bigger kids on me for it" he said slightly depressed as some memories came back.

She looked at him oddly "You? Got bullied when you were a kid, I'd have thought you'd jus steal their stuff to make them regret messing with you"

He shook his head "No, when I was younger I didn't know how to do all that stuff like I do now"

"Why?' she asked interested, as she finally started to learn a bit about him besides his theif persona.

"I don't want to talk about it" he tried to dismiss the question away.

"Aww come on, you know almost everything about me, which is creepy, but still I think I deserv to know some stuff about you" she protested.

"I said drop it Ms Fox" he said a bit of anger in his voice which surprised but unfortunately she didn't take the hint.

"I think you owe me" she crossed her arms.

"I said stop!" he suddenly raised his voice which caught her so off guard she shrunk down slightly and her ears tilted back in fright. He never yelled at her, atleast angrily.

"O-ok" she stuttered.

After a few seconds Sly took a deep breath and sighed "I'm sorry, those are… memories I don't want to think about right now ok?"

She looked back cautiously said "Alright… I'm sorry didn't know"

"It's alright… you didn't know… hardly anyone does, and even fewer actually care" he said sadly.

She stared at him for some time finally looking away, she had never bothered to ask, but only now could she see he had some deeper problems. It made her realize what she rarely thought about, that he was a person just like her. Like almost everyone in the world he had felt some kind of pain in his life and it seemed whatever his was, was very strong.

Her ears still sat backwards since she felt terrible and said "I'm sorry, sometimes I forget that you are a normal person and that you do deserve some privacy"

He looked away but then said "No I think you do deserve to be a bit noisy of me since I know a lot about you. So I guess you can ask something"

She thought for a moment then asked "Alright, so why'd you become a thief?"

He smiled "Same reason you are a cop, it's the family business"

"Really, your family survives off stealing?" she asked not sure how that would efficient or stable.

"Well not exactly, my family steals trying to make a name for itself, constantly challenging themselves to do better. Then finally after awhile they pull the biggest heist they possibly can. After all that 'the itch' as my family calls it, usually goes away or becomes easy enough to ignore and they settle down, start a family and get normal jobs" he explained remembering what the Thievius Raccoonus told him and also remembering back when his parents used to talk about it thinking he couldn't hear.

She eyed him "But where do all the treasures, artifacts and money go?"

"I sadly can't tell you Ms Fox, only a few people are allowed to know that, the Cooper crew, very trusted family members or friends. I remember the book specifically saying 'don't tell cops where it is" he smirked.

She snapped her fingers pretending to be annoyed since she expected that answer anyway. But that brought up another question.

"You said it's the family business, how far back does it go?"

He seriously thought this over then finally said "To be totally honest I don't know, I've got origins from medieval times, ancient time Japan and even from the Egyptian days"

She was surprised, how could a family tradition like that stay for so long.

"Damn Cooper, got quite a family there, wonder if any of my ancestors ever faced them?" she chuckled at the idea, even though it was a bit far fetch. Her families cop history only went back to her grandfather, anything further back she couldn't say for sure.

Sly had never thought about that before and found it kinda funny if this was true "Maybe it was our destiny to be rivals"

She shrugged as her mind started to go back to the game. Surprisingly she was having a bit of fun with him here, especially after she opened up her mind after he got angry.

Unfortunately luck wasn't on her side and England managed to score and she yelled "Come on guys, what kind of defense was that!"

Sly looked at her amused said "I never knew there was anything besides me that made you this angry?"

"Well first you are annoying but it's because you always win, I want to win. That's why I'm always angry at you" she explained.

"Oh I thought it was because I always flirted with you" he smirked catching her on that.

For half a moment he could see her blushing through her fur then said "No, and of course that annoys me too" trying to recover.

He started hollering out in laughter "Yes, I knew it! I knew you liked my flirting"

"Shut up Cooper!' she growled back.

"I don't hear you denying it" he smirked putting his paw to his ear over exaggerating himself listening.

Carmelita mentally smacked herself for not doing that "I don't like your flirting"

"Nope I don't believe you" Sly said smartly.

"Shut your stupid face before I shut it for ya" she said getting ready to pounce him if he continued.

"Come at me, I sure that's what you want anyway, to close to me, and be on top" Sly smirked expecting that to make her stop.

Once again she froze and that heavy blush came through her fur, and even looked like she were caught in headlights. She almost nervously sat back into a more comfortable position clearing her throat losing all anger in her posture.

Sly stared at her and it was easy to see that he had hit something she hadn't expected him to say then asked "Umm… sorry… I… ummm, wow…. Sorry about that" realizing he may have been a bit more right then he expected.

She looked really embarrassed and tried not to look at him out of embarrassment, and unknown to him, fear. She wasn't quite sure why these emotions came to her around her or why she wanted to get closer to him. The reason was, because he was a thief, and she, a cop. How could that work?

Both sat there awkwardly until Sly got up and walked to the couch and sat down next her, trying to be as easy going as possible. Him sitting down made her flinch and tense up, but he spoke softly.

"Carm, I'm sorry about that, I went a bit too far there" he apologized, hoping that maybe that would help a bit.

Carmelita wasn't quite sure what to say, she was still a bit tongue tied by what he said, cause to be honest, it had come to her mind before.

Sly sighed now his ears were tilted back, and finally said "Sorry, I'll… I think I'm gonna go. Sorry for disturbing your night"

With that Sly got up and walked towards the window tail limp, even sliding along the ground. Despite it feeling a bit awkward he had been enjoying just sitting around and hanging out with her, instead of having run away from her.

It was also nice to be able to just alk with her and learn some things about her life then having to find it out with spy work or some of his other tricks.

Carmelita on the other hand had also, admittedly, enjoyed him being around. Even if the conversations were short, brief, and broken off by their fighting a bit too often, she'd learned that he was also deeper then she originally thought.

Even with his somewhat, embarrassing comment, he had made the night a bit more fun and hearing he was leaving made her feel a bit bad. What she hadn't noticed was it had started raining since he showed up.

The sound of rain intensified from him opening up the window and she said "Wait… the rain is pretty bad, and knowing you, you'll probably jump your way across building back home. I don't want you to slip and break your neck or something"

He was surprised and turned, it meant a lot knowing she was worried about his safety even after all they had been through. Smiling he closed the window and walked back over and was about to sit in the chair but she motioned for him to sit on the couch. Even with that he cautiously sat on the farther side of the couch.

Carm gave him a smile and they both sat back to watch the game.

Sly said "Hey if you want you can keep asking me stuff?"

Carm thought it over and finally asked "Ok, ummm… what was the hardest heist you've ever done" now curling up a bit on the couch and wrapping her tail around herself to keep warm.

"Well let me think, it might be when you and I first met, I had to not only save your job, but also not steal the gem you were protecting, or maybe it was when we tangoed. That was really hard not to lose my cool and realize that I, Sly Cooper, was tango dancing with Inspector Fox" he said trying to choose.

She rolled her eyes but smiled doing it "I have to say you are a good dancer, and were, admittedly, handsome"

He looked to her and said "Did you actually just say that?" in a bit of disbelief.

She shrugged "What? Before I knew it was you, you were very charming, and seemed to be quite the gentleman" Nobody else knew that she in fact found Sly that night quite handsome, and genuinely enjoyed attention he gave her until he had to blow his cover.

"Ok so now I'm Charming and handsome, not annoying and a thief?" he asked wanting to see if he could get a bit more out of her.

She hesitated but knew he wanted and answer "Yes, sometimes you do spew out a good line once in awhile, and do sometimes come off as very charming"

"I don't even care what you say from now on, I'm handsome and charming, score one for the raccoon!" he said boasting.

Carm chuckled. For some reason she didn't really care right now if he knew that. She just felt like he deserved to know after all they'd been through.

"Well ok, I'll let you have that one" she smiled the realized she had drank her entire beer and asked "Hey you want another?"

He thought and said "Nah I'm good"

She nodded and went to get another beer for herself. Grabbing one and popping it open, the fridge made her feel cold again. "Burrrrrr" she shivered rubbing her arms but it didn't help.

Then suddenly she got a devilish plan, to get back at Sly for what he said, get warm and maybe see him squirm.

As she walked back instead of sitting where she had been sitting, she sat down right beside Sly and leaning against him. This made him tense up a bit and said "Umm, you realize you're practically sitting on me?"

"Hey I'm cold" she said which was true but she could have just as easily gotten a blanket.

"Oh… well… ummm" he said not sure what to do, if this were any other woman he'd have wrapped atleast one arm over her shoulder and pulled her a bit closer, But this was Carmalita who he was sure would break his fingers before letting him do that.

So he just sat awkwardly arms clearly away from her, and not fully sure what to do.

He inwardly laughed at how uncomfortable he was and decided to push her luck and nuzzled up to him a bit for warmth and said "MMM warm"

He was now blushing madly, and wondered what the hell she was doing.

"Carm, are you sure you wouldn't rather just use a blanket?" he nervously asked.

She smirked realizing for sure that he was uncomfortable and looked to him, their noses close to touching each other "What? Your flirting always insinuated that you would love to be in this position"

"Carm, I think we both know that you are doing this to tease me and that if I even put my arm on your shoulder you'd break it" he said trying to call her bluff.

She chuckled "Oh is that right? Why don't you try ad we'll see"

Sly contemplated what he could do but was interrupted "Hurry up! I'm cold!"

He cautiously did as she demanded and put an arm over her shoulder and surprisingly didn't feel it get snapped or put into a arm lock. Infact she cuddled up even close liking the warmth he was giving off and softly purred.

Sly eventually relaxed and just enjoyed the feeling of her leaning against him also enjoying the warmth. They both sat back watching the game silently enjoying the others presence.

It slowly started to reach the end of the game and the score was still tied.

"Come guys, just need to score once!" she said suddenly grabbing Sly's arm and squeezing hard.

"Ahhh, Carm… loosen… the grip!" he groaned.

"What, oh sorry, but dammit they need to score!" said angrily.

Sly massaged his arm with his other hand trying to make it stop stinging and said "Man if that's what I got to look forward to if you ever managed to grab me in a chase; I'm gonna make damn sure you never catch me"

"Once again, sorry" she apologized again not meaning to hurt him.

"It's fine, as long as you didn't break anything" he reassured her incase she felt bad.

She smiled then looked back to the TV and said "Come on! Two minutes just get it in the net"

Sly had gotten a bit into the game as well. Several times it had been really close, near misses, or the goalie just barely blocking the shot. Now he also wanted France to win and it was coming down the wire.

On screen the English player made some bad footwork lost control of the ball allowing a French player to easily take it and run. With pass, the ball was now in the English's half of the field , then another pass. The last seconds counting down.

"Come on, you got this" Carm mumbled.

The player faked a kick, but passed to another. This made the goalie over compensate and was caught off guard as the second player kicked and just barely passed as the goalie tried to jump back and block it.

"GOOOOOOOAL!" the announcer yelled.

"YES!" Carmelita cheered. She turned to Sly and suddenly hug him and said "They won!"

Sly was caught off guard by that hug but was caught in the moment as well hugging back, not quite as tight though.

She slowly stopped cheering and realized she was hugging him and backed off then said "Sorry about that" she blushed.

"It's alright, was caught in the moment too" he smiled reassuringly back which caused her to smile as well.

"So I guess you win the bet then?" he asked already knowing the answer but was sure she wanted to find a way past that awkward hug.

"Yup, tomorrow I'll be getting one hundred pounds" she said thankful for the change of subject.

"Wow, someone lost hard, remind me to never bet against you" he joked.

"Maybe I'll bring you along to one of my poker nights, with my friends" she said, not really meaning since he'd be instantly called out as her rival.

"Hmmm, maybe one day we can have a poker night, on neutral ground and a nice mix between my friends and yours" he suggested an alternative which was somewhat reasonable.

"I wouldn't trust any of your friends to play fair" she crossed her arms.

He looked slightly offended "Hey I may be a thief but I surround myself with honest criminals, besides I'm sure Murry's big hands would have trouble doing any cheating"

She scoffed but let it go and said "So you gonna get going, or stay a bit more?" she asked walking off to the kitchen again to grab another drink.

"Why got plans if I do?' he asked sure that she'd want him gone now.

"I don't know, it's still raining out there" she said grabbing yet another drink.

Sly looked to the window saw it was still raining, even worse actually "Well then I guess I'm stuck here for the night. Great, trapped in an apartment with a woman who wants to arrest me" he sighed to himself.

She heard and giggled "Yup, try to sleep through those thoughts. Seriously though want another drink?"

"Sure I'll have a beer" switching from soda to beer now that he knew he'd be crashing here against his will.

She grabbed one for him too and handed it over then cracked her bottle open. She then took the remote and started surfing through the channels.

As this was going on Sly also popped his bear open then asked "Still cold?"

She looked to him "Oh, so now you want to sit next to me?" she laughed.

"Ever come across that maybe I am also cold?" he tried to defend.

"Don't lie to me, raccoon. When I lean up against you like that you get a perfect view of my cleavage" She said teasing him.

"Huh, what" he blushed madly looking away.

"I knew it, knew I felt you tilting your head down a bit too much" she continued to tease him.

"Oh god" blushing even worse, making his grey fur look like it was starting to turn red along with his skin.

She started laughing hysterically at the raccoon, since it was the first time ever she had seen him even slightly embarrassed "I caught you raccoon, I caught you peeping!" continuing to laugh at him which only made him more anxious.

"No I wasn't" he very badly try to defend himself, his voice even slightly cracked.

She kept laughing her stomach starting to hurt.

He groaned covering his face with his hands until she started to calm down bit "You are so cute when you blush" she made a soft chuckle "Oww, my stomach hurts so bad, I haven't laughed that hard since I was a teenager"

He didn't answer still trying to get his composure.

"Awww, fox got your tongue" she teased some more.

Sly suddenly had nice comeback that would just easily make her embarrassed "Oh I'm sure you'd want my tongue caught somewhere Ms Fox"

In and instant Carm stopped laughing and froze "Uhhhh" having absolutely no idea what to say as her mind stopped in place.

Sly was smirking now as the tables turned once again "Oh sounds like you lost your tongue now"

"I… uhhh… damn" she said looking away unable to speak.

Sly sat smugly and said "Yup that shut ya up"

Carmelita tried really hard focus again but the line caught her so off guard her mind was trying to wrap around it. Once again it was hard to lie about that when she had, and it was still hard to admit, thought about it before.

"So… anything you want to watch?" she managed to say.

"Umm, well usually I'd watch some late night cartoons but it's your tv so do whatever you want" he said not wanting pressure her to do anything.

"Cartoons?" she asked not expecting him to say that.

"Ya, the adult swim cartoons" he replied back.

"Oh I see" she nodded deciding to check it out.

After finidng it she scooted over and said "I am actually cold" and cuddled up to him again and wrapped an arm around her shoulder again like before "And try not to look down this time" she said almost challenging him instead of warning him.

He rolled his eyes but said sarcastically "Well thanks for giving me a near impossible task" but was gonna try his best, he didn't want her calling him out again.

Eventually it was starting to get late and he could see Carmelita going in and out of sleep so he said "You look tired, I think you should head to bed"

Carmelita snapped awake "What!? No, I can stay awake, besides I ain't going to sleep before you, I can't trust you on that one" She was against going to sleep because, she was not only paranoid that he might take something but also because, like said, she was tired and didn't want to get up. Plus it was warm and if she got up and walked away her feet would get cold from the floor.

"I'm not gonna take anything Carm, you are exhausted. Just tell me where I can get a blanket and pillow and I'll sleep on the couch" he tried to reassure her so she'd get some rest.

"But you are warm and it's cold" she whined.

He rolled his eyes. "At this rate she'll want to sleep with me through the night" he thought.

"I'm not moving , unless you go get a blanket" she demanded acting a bit like a child now.

"Carm I can't even move because you are basically on top of me" he pointed out.

"Crap" she cursed realizing that one of them would have to go.

Groaning she moved so he could get up and said "Go to the left, there's a closet in the wall, with blankets and a few pillows, take your pick"

He followed her instructions and opened the door to find a few pillows and blankets, taking one of both he had to fight hard to not look around her the closet but knew he'd have to come back soon.

Sly walked back and saw her Carm shivering on her side and frowned and decided to instead pull her closer to the arm of the couch placing the pillow under her head and ten draped the blanket over her and said "Sleep tight"

"What about you?" she yawned.

"Probably grab another set and sleep in the chair" he was already heading over to get them but heard Carm said "Just grab your own pillow and sleep on the other side of the couch"

He looked to her weirdly "Oh and now you want to play footsy with me?" teasing her "Odds are you'd use the chance to kick me in the gonads"

She giggled lightly "No, I wanted to slip my cold feet under your shirt and see you jump off the couch"

Sly gulped but at this point he wanted to sleep too and not following her orders would probably make her do something to keep him awake all night. So he grabbed another pillow and slid under the blanket on the opposite side of the couch. He tried hard to work around Carmelitas own legs but eventually got comfortable.

Within a short time both had fallen asleep.

Next morning…

In the morning Carmelita woke up and yawned which was followed by her rubbing the sand from her eyes. She looked over to the other side of the couch and realized Sly was gone.

She got up, a bit slower then she wanted to since she was stiff.

"I knew that thieving raccoon would do this" she growled angry at herself for letting he guard down.

But then she sniffed the air "Bacon… eggs?"

She looked to the kitchen and saw the table had food on it and a note.

Carmelita walked over and read the note which said "To Carmelita"

"Thanks for letting me stay for the night, and thanks for being a nice host for the night. Thought I'd pay you back by giving you a nice breakfast, hopefully I timed it right and it's still hot when you wake up. Maybe we can do this again sometime and have a movie night if you like. Or I'd be willing to take you up on that poker offer we spoke of. Anyway, it was nice spending some time with you that didn't involve you chasing me. And I guess since you caught me, I was staring at your chest, apologies if that offends you"

"Sincerely Sly Cooper"

She smiled realizing he hadn't taken anything and sat down to eat. As she ate she seriously considered his offer to hang out again, although she'd have to figure out how to let him know if she decided to later.

"Damn, this is some good bacon"

**ALRIGHT, that was fun to right, if not a bit hard at the same time. I've been spending a long time trying to find a good scenario and proper topics that felt right and even now it feels kinda awkward at times. As for Soccer, I hate soccer but I know when it's needed considering this is Europe. If I got something wrong let me know. As for the story let me know what you think, tell me if you liked it or didn't like it, as I said I haven't written anything in a few months.**

**Next I ended this off in a way that this could be short stories and stuff so if you want to see another one let me know, and seriously, send me some requests. Like I have movie night and poker night, but send me some other ideas and I may find them better. **

**Finally thanks for reading and if this is your first time reading my stuff, I got another Sly and Carm fic, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.**

**Admiralkirk**


	2. Just hand it over

**A/N Hey guys, nice to see you again. I'd like to thank Slycooper 978 for sending me two ideas and I will make sure to use atleast one, but that one may come a bit later considering what it is. Just wanted to make that shout out now so I don't forget it later(because my mind seems to forget a lot of stuff these days)**

**Anyway thanks to anyone who decided to come back and read this new chapter, I hope you enjoy this as well any possible future chapters. And if you want to give me any ideas, either send it in a PM or review(if it's a review I'll make sure to PM you and let you know I saw it and tell you if I like the idea)**

**Lastly if you can't get enough Sly and Carm fluff, check out my other Sly fic "The small things" it may need a few touch ups but I bet you'll enjoy it.**

It had been about a month since Sly had stayed the night with Ms Fox. He had been wondering if she'd taken his offer from the note he left but so far there were no signs of her sharing the same idea.

Coming to this conclusion he decided to not ask her again and went back to his normal routine. Since the last month he had spent most nights hanging out with either one or both of his friends depending on their schedule.

More and more recently Bentley had been spending his time on the computer speaking with a new friend he made only called 'RedBaron1337'. From what he could tell 'baron' had revealed they were a girl which gave both Sly and Murray free reign to start teasing their friend that it was his new girlfriend. He obviously denied it and called it 'an online friend'

So some nights Bentley spent more time talking with the Baron then hanging out with Murray and Sly. It didn't bother the two; it was healthy that he was making more friends besides just the raccoon and hippo.

The two others spent most of their time together; Sly even went to a derby to watch the hippo destroy the competition, but this came at a heavy cost to his vehicle. After that Murray spent a lot of time trying to repair his vehicle. He still spent most of his time with the turtle and raccoon, but he wanted to get to the next derby as fast as possible.

These two new pass times for his friends left him alone sometimes, which wasn't bad since it was only for small amount of times.

But tonight was a bit different. Bentley had completely left to go out shopping for tech supplies; while Murray had let Sly know that he was definitely gonna be in the garage for the entire night trying to fix his derby car so it would finally be done.

This made the raccoon decide to head out and see what kind of trouble he could get in. Putting on his thieving equipment and taking his cane; he quickly let Murray know he was heading out then got up onto a building.

Once on the building he did what he always did and jumped from building to building. Eventually he stopped for a few minutes to watch a street. He didn't do it to spy on people, but more to just watch the lights, people and cars.

It was times like these that made him glad he was not a normal person. Doing the same thing every day on a perfect routine; just like the stoplights, always on a specific schedule, never changing. After a few minutes he continued on moving through the city.

Eventually he arrived at where he had been meaning to go, The Louvre. From what he heard an Egyptian necklace was in there. It was actually on tour and had been to a few other museums so far but now it was here in France. He also had heard from connections and research Murray had done that the necklace had been stolen hundreds of years ago from a pharaoh's tomb. This gave the perfect reason to take it and send it out for sale on the .

He'd broken into the Louvre a few times before so he didn't expect this to be much different unless they had upgraded the security systems.

He was easily able to reach the middle building, which was where the necklace was, and after taking out a guard that was near a door got inside. He knew the museum pretty well and skillfully maneuvered around guards so not to raise any suspicion. Finally he reached the room holding the necklace. Inside was one guard.

"Not a problem" he thought and waited until the guard faced away from where he was coming.

When the guard decided to walk around and bit look at the exhibits, not that he had anything better to do, Sly quietly walked over and using his cane knocked him out with ease. He almost fell over and would have knocked over a vase if Sly hadn't caught the man.

He set him down in a sitting position against the wall and said "Sleep tight buddy, I'm sure you'll appreciate the rest"

The raccoon walked to chest high pillar that had the necklace on top, only problem was it was incased in a square glass box.

He looked at the box then took off his backpack. He rummaged around and found a very fine knife. He used the knife to slowly draw a hole. It took him almost ten minutes to cut the hole open but finally it fell over and he caught it before it fell then placed it on top of the box so he wouldn't step on it.

After putting the knife back in his pack he reached inside and gently pulled the necklace from the box. It was mostly gold, with some Egyptian animals carved into spots, he could identify a jackal, crocodile and eagle. Finally in the middle was a gem hanging from necklace.

"Pretty" he said to himself before also placing it in his pack, but unfortunately he heard a guns hammer click back "Crap"

"Put the necklace back Ringtail" he heard a familiar voice.

"Well my night just got more fun" he thought to himself.

"Hello Ms Fox. Long time no see" he said not making any move "Well hopefully see you in a sec" since he was still facing away.

"I said drop it" she said.

"Oh now you want me to drop it? Thought you wanted it intact?" he asked.

He could practically feel her eyes roll as she scoffed "just put it back you idiot"

Sly could tell she wasn't gonna play with him so he needed to make his move carefully "I was gonna see how you looked with it on but I guess not now" he slowly got up but didn't put it back. He knew she'd never try to take him down if he was still holding it, the gem was fragile and Barkley would have her ass if she broke it.

"Put it back Cooper" she growled seeing what he was doing.

"Don't think I will Ms Fox" he smirked finally turning finding his suspicions to be right.

She had her shock pistol aimed right for his chest ready to taze him when she got the chance. Even in the darkened room he found it nice to ogle over her a bit admiring how she looked.

"So how ya been since we last met, how was the breakfast? It wasn't cold right?" he asked wanting to talk a bit while they were stuck in the stale mate.

She knew she had no choice but to talk and said "It was actually quite nice, and it was still warm. Thanks for the breakfast I guess, but don't think that because of that I'm gonna put some pity on you"

"Would never dream of it love" he smiled happy she had a nice breakfast.

She rolled her eyes but said "So, just incase I don't get you in the back of my car in cuffs, was that letter for real? You'd really want to risk hanging out with me again?"

He shrugged "Sure, and I know this is really sappy, but when I see you whether with a gun in my face or otherwise my day gets a bit better" he said truthfully.

Despite it being very corny the fox couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth in her chest "Ya that was corny, and if I have to be honest too, I considered it. The only problem, I had no way of reaching you and making plans"

"I did that on purpose, mostly because I was sure you'd have turned it down" he said surprised she actually considered his offer.

She looked away but kept the gun pointed at him then back "Alright so let's say I actually wanted to doing something with you, how would I even let you know?"

Sly thought it over and said "Well, it would have to be a way that you or anyone else couldn't track or figure out where I'm sending it, so how about this? I'll set up a dead drop spot, where you can leave, a letter or note or whatever. I'll check it about once a week or more so give me at least a week to respond. I'll answer back as soon as I can then leave my answer there where you will come back and see my answer. Sound like a good plan?"

She thought it over and said "Ok, give me the address"

Sly said "Just let me get my backpack, I got paper so I can make some instructions." He was asking permission so she wouldn't assume he was doing anything bad.

She nodded giving him the go ahead and he carefully grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote a quick note. As he got back up he sighed contemplating.

After a second he said "As a gesture of good faith, you can have this too" he said handing over the necklace along with the paper "What you are doing is worth more then some necklace"

She barely held back a smile since that was actually rally sweet but barely managed to keep her stern face "just hand it over"

She reached out with her free hand and took both and said "Alright Sly, get out of here" slowly lowering her pistol.

Sly let out a smile "Never thought I'd hear that, but can I ask you something?"

She cautiously nodded "If I want to make plans, mind if I just drop it directly off at your apartment?"

She sighed holstering her pistol now "Not that I like you breaking into my place but that would be faster… fine" she sighed feeling like she'd regret it.

"Thanks Carm… sooooo…. Um, I can just leave?" he asked cautiously never actually being in this situation where he could just leave.

Carm looked at him annoyed "Yes, dumby"

"Ok" he said about to run off but said "Oh and that guy may need some ice"

After that he ran off barely holding back the disbelief at what just happened. It only occurred to him once he left the museum grounds that maybe she just tricked him. It was also just as possible that she just tricked him to keep the necklace out of his grasp.

This made him chuckle "If so, well played Ms Fox"

This wouldn't stop him from checking the dead drop every so often anyway.

When he got home he found that Bentley had already gone to bed and Murray was still working. Before he went to bed he made sure to write down the instructions to the dead drop location he'd given Carmelita in a journal.

_Head to Main Street, find the alleyway south of the intersection with Monroe St. in the alley is an unused air conditioner with an easily opened side door. Wedge the note in inside._

He smiled closing the book and placed it back in its spot. He went to bed to sleep and found it almost impossible to fall asleep. He was too excited to sleep knowing Carm might send a letter. It finally came to him; this might be a very, very long week.

**Alright thanks for reading everyone, this wasn't one of the ideas Sly cooper 978 had given me or any of my ideas, this was mostly just a chapter to fill in the gap of how these two started out. I had to quickly find a way for them to be able to secretly communicate with eachother. So this is more of a bridge chapter. Apologies if you wanted to read some fun stuff. Hopefully the next one will be out soon once I decide what their first activity could be. Like I said up top send me ideas if you got any(or want to see more of this) lastly check out my other Sly fic, and if you happen to be a fan of Spyro I got a bunch there too.**

**PS I know those street names are lame or may not even exist in Paris but I've never been there so I just made it up quickly, don't get on my butt about it.**

**Thanks for reading**

**Admiralkirk95**


	3. Movie night

**A/N So I'm back again, this was hard just because choosing how they'd hangout for the first time was hard. I'd like to thanks Slycooper978 for helping with some ideas in this chapter. I'll get into more detail of what they were at the end so I don't ruin anything. Lastly don't forgot to send in any ideas that you feel would be a good idea.**

**Sidenote- I'd like to thank "Guest" and "GoldenAlpha101" and for being the first actual reviews, I wanted to send you personal messages thanking you but guest is well… a guest, and Golden Alpha you have your account set up to not allow PMs to be sent to you. And I'd like to thank 'Starfoxfan0369' for also reviewing and if by the time this chapter comes out and you haven't seen it, I sent you a thank you message.**

Sly walked down Main street, heading towards the location he'd given Carm. He had been checking at least once a day. Sadly there was never a letter, which was slowly starting to get to him. It annoyed and amused him that Inspector Fox may have actually tricked him at the museum taking his offer to get away with even a half win. Usually he'd get away and with the loot, but her goal that night was to keep the necklace safe. Her job wasn't to catch him that night but to protect it and by tricking him won.

He wasn't angry that'd she'd do that; in fact he'd been expecting her to use his emotions to win one day and that ay have finally been it.

"If that's the case I think I'm gonna lose a lot now" he said to himself knowing he couldn't resist her. With her strong independent attitude, the fact that she makes special priority for him instead of going after easier prey. She also was the only one who he'd seen ever match his quick wits and agility, and he escaped sometimes simply because of dumb luck. On top of all that was she was beautiful.

"Could stare at those curves all day, you know if I could run backwards from her" he thought.

During his train of thought he'd reached the alley and walked in.

A few dumpsters lined the walls and further in he saw a cat run off startled by his approach. Like he described there was the air conditioner sitting further in the alley.

He approached and opened the hatch now expecting there to be nothing but to his surprise and glee was a note.

He barely held back yelling something and reached for it.

_Got a night off on Saturday, thought we could try and watch a movie at my place. Haven't decided what it will be so bring some of your ideas if you can make it._

He recognized the hand writing as hers but below the writer were two boxes and one line saying "Check a box"

The first box said "Of course I'll come Inspector Fox, I wouldn't want to turn down the cop who hates my guts"

And the second said "No I can't because I'm a scumbag and am probably stealing something"

Sly chuckled at the responses and obviously checked the first then wrote an arrow that said "Flip over note" since the whole side was filled by her writing.

On the back he wrote "I'll be there miss… I mean Inspector Fox, keep the window unlocked for me please" after he wrote this he stuck it back in the air conditioner closed the small hatch then took off full of excitement.

"Just got to wait two days"

Those two days were excruciatingly long but he did his best to hide his impatience from Bentley and Murray. It wasn't that hard though, they were too busy with their own things to realize he was hiding anything. Murray was starting to get close to finishing his derby car, which Sly was happy for.

Bentley was starting to talk with the Baron more often, and it seemed they were talking about more personal matters. He swore that he never leaked them any information about their careers.

Sly honestly could tell Bentley was developing a relationship, but also knew the risks of the internet. He wasn't gonna go anything further then just talking with this person until he was sure and Sly agreed with that.

Finally after forty-eight hours of waiting Sly had grabbed some movies and made a quick call. After all that he let his friends know he was leaving. Like always Bentley gave him the 'be careful speech.

"Bentley stop worrying about me, I'm not even gonna get into to trouble tonight" he reassured.

Bentley didn't believe him "I know you can handle yourself but one night Inspector Fox is gonna catch you off guard and it will be all over"

"Bentley just worry about your girlfriend and I'll worry about mine" he said in a joking tone. Bentley and Murray had teased him about him liking Carmelita in the past and after awhile it became a running gag.

Bentley looked annoyed "She's not my girlfriend"

"Sure she ain't" he teased chuckling but took his leave before the turtle could respond back.

He grabbed his cane like he always did bit dressed in a bit more casual clothes. Blue t-shirt and grey jeans, but kept on his signature hat and mask. Finally he filled his backpack with a few movie ideas he'd thought of over the last two days and made his way to her apartment.

Like last time he vaulted his way to her window finding it unlocked like he asked and slipped in.

Once inside he saw Carmelita in the kitchen looking quite confused, staring at a pizza box. She had a grey t-shirt and blue jeans on that helped show off her curves.

"Hey beautiful"

She jumped at the sudden voice. The Fox looked over to see the raccoon standing by the window and said "Don't do that!"

"Sorry" he apologized scratching his head "I see you got my delivery" he said pointing to the pizza.

"So it was you who sent this, well you owe me some money" she said.

"No problem" he reached into his pocket and pulled out the amount he owed her.

She took it and said "Alright ringtail, what'd ya bring?"

He took off his backpack and reached inside grabbing his selections.

"Alright here's my stuff" He said laying them on the table.

On the table was the wedding singer, 50 first dates, Alpha and Omega, this is 40 and say anything.

"Really? You choose all movies like this?" she asked meaning every movie was a relationship movie.

"What? I'm a sucker for love stories" he said defending himself.

Carm Rolled her eyes arms crossed "Ya I bet you do, no wonder you've been trying to get into my pants all these years. You've been watching unrealistic movies of how Hollywood depicts love"

"Hey come on, I would never do that, atleast until the third date" joking around.

She glared at him "Stay on topic dumpster diver" making fun of that fact he was a raccoon.

He feigned being hurt "Ouch Inspector, that cut me deep"

"Ya well suck it up" she said not being fooled by his obvious acting.

He stopped and said "Well unless you got a better idea these are still on the table"

She sighed "Alright fine let me think… I hate Adam Sandler, and I've seen the others except Alpha and Omega"

"Sooooo, we going with that one?" he asked wanting to get this going as much as he liked arguing with her.

"Alright fine let's watch it. Heard it's decent" shrugging as she took it and went to the TV to get everything started.

While she did that Sly opened the box and grabbed two plates and got two slices for each.

The raccoon walked over, and sat down waiting for Carm to finish. It was kinda hard not to stare at her behind because of those jeans so tried really hard to look away and looked around the room.

He noticed a few pictures he never noticed before. The most prominent was a family picture. In it was four foxes. One was a male, next to a female who were both adults. He didn't have to guess that they were husband and wife. The mom had a baby in her arms, only a year old at the most. Finally was a little girl that he assumed was Carmelita since they both had the mole on their cheek. She was sitting on her fathers shoulder happy as she could be. They looked so happy, it made him smile just looking at it.

In another was a photo of the young Carmelita, only a few years older. Probably around six at the time. She seemed to be chasing her younger brother who was about three or four looking. Now that the boy grown since the last picture he could see how he looked. The little fox was a slightly darker shade of orange then his sister. His hair was short like Sly's but not square cut, but cut more round matching his head shape. His ears were slightly shorted in proportion to his body compared to Carms and his cheek fur ended in black tips. Finally his eyes were light blue and his tail was entirely orange until the tip, which was also black.

What caught his eye was she wearing a toy sheriff badge and pointing a toy gun at him obviously playing cops and robbers. Even back then he could see that killer instinct in her eyes when she chased him was there in the picture.

"Admiring my early days?" he heard her ask snapping him out of his train of thought.

"Huh, sorry" he said expecting her to be angry at him for prying.

She chuckled "No it's alright, which one you staring at?"

He said "The one with you chasing your brother, even then you obviously knew what you wanted to be"

She smiled going back to those days on her head "Ya, my parents didn't like me doing that because I was a bit too rough with my little brother. Accidentally broke his arm a few years later after that photo. Didn't le me near my cop stuff for over a month" she chuckled to herself.

"Never knew you had a brother" he said curious of that.

"You think I'm this tough and tenacious from being an only child or having sisters? No way you only get like this from growing up with a stubborn brother" she flexed for a moment.

Sly shook has head chuckling slightly amused "Where is he now?"

She took a moment to answer "I haven't spoken to him since Christmas, but last time I got a major update he was in Canada. He works in business though"

"Sounds like he liked a slower pace job" Sly commented.

"I can tell you I could never do that, besides Mark hates you. Always making a fool of me and getting me in trouble, I may have broken his arm but he doesn't like it when people mess with me" she smirked "Would wring your neck on the first chance"

He gulped "Let me know if Mark ever visits"

"No promises" she laughed.

"Anyway, here's some za" he said passing a plate to her.

"Why what a gentleman" she teased taking it.

She chuckled "I may be a dumpster diver but I can be polite" he defended.

"Whatever ringtail" she said sitting down and skipping through the previews.

"Sure you want to watch this?" Sly said mostly to annoy her.

"I chose it didn't I?" she shot back and pressed play.

With that the movie started and they both sat back and relaxed.

Within the first half an hour Carm looked like he was genuinely enjoying the movie and said "So far this seems ok, I like Kate, strong and idependent, she's a badass"

"Don't forget hot, in her species standards" he said quickly saying that to not sound like a weirdo.

"Yup that's also right" she agreed.

"Kinda like you?" he said stating the obvious.

"Ya, a bit, except I'm a supreme badass, and even better looking" she gloated.

"No arguments here" he said praising her.

"Flatter will get you no where raccoon" she said rolling her eyes but like the compliment.

"Can't blame me for trying" he shrugged getting back to the movie.

Within a few minutes Sly got up to get himself another slice of pizza and Carm did that same. He played it nice and left the larger pieces for her.

She didn't say anything so he sat back down to keep watching followed by her.

"I have to say this is good pizza. Where's it from" Carm asked.

He gulped down his mouthful so not to be rude "From a family owned pizzeria called 'Big slice'. Makes some really good stuff, you should check them out.

"I think I will" she nodded.

"So how did Barkley take you 'stopping' my thieving but not actually catching me this time?" he asked wanting to know if Barkley went nuts like he usually did.

"He said, and I quote "Well it's an improvement" though could tell he was still pissed" she said "Just glad I was able to say I did my job for once"

"Ya, I kinda assumed letting you keep the necklace would help a bit" he smiled glad it helped.

"I hate to say it, but thanks Ringtail" she sounded like she had a hard time saying it but made a small smile afterwards.

After a second she asked "And what of your week?"

"Well I've been trying to combat my ever increasing boredom due to my friends getting hobbies that are progressively taking up more of their time" he explained.

"That sucks" she said.

"Ya, tell me about it. Murray is all worked up on getting his derby car back up and running again, and Bentley has a new online girlfriend" he breify explained.

She looked confused slightly "Is this person actually a girlfriend?"

"No, we tease him about it though" he chuckled.

"That isn't very nice" Carm said knowing he they were friends so it wasn't serious.

He rolled his eyes smiling "It's all in good fun, not as serious as them teasing me about wanting to get in bed with you" he chuckled.

"Oh do they" she said amused hearing this "And from what I can tell it's true"

"Pff, ya I know you want me to do that but I know you'd have some trap, like persuade me then cuff me suddenly" He said trying to lie.

She smirked "Who says I don't like that?" her face was very hard to tell, not sure if she was for real or messing with him.

"Uhhh… ahem…" he tried to recompose himself "Well now I know what to give you as a Christmas present"

"Give me that and I'll make sure to use them on you, and not in the fun way" giving him a warning.

"I'll take note of that" he said getting back to the movie.

Carm then suddenly said "Hey Humphrey kinda reminds me of you, you're both grey, annoying and have a crush on someone who finds them annoying"

"Ahh well that may be, but wait until the ending" he smirked.

"Great, I'm gonna regret saying that" she had a pretty good idea of how it would end though, but that didn't bother her that much.

"Well the movie is ok so far. You made a good choice, for once" she admitted.

He smiled "Thanks, means a lot coming from you"

Camrelita to Sly's surprise said "Your welcome ringtail"

After a bit more time both finished the slices again and Sly said "I'll get ya another slice if you want?" trying to be a gentleman.

She stared at him purposely knowing it would make him feel a bit awkward. Finally she said "Ok" sounding chipper compared what he expected.

He walked back grabbing some more and said "Well down, to the last pieces"

"Oh damn, that was some good stuff" she groaned.

Sly chuckled and walked back over, seeing the movie getting near the final act. He handed her plate and was going to sit where he had been all night when he heard Carm clear her throat to get his attention.

"Come on, sit here if you want you Nervous Nelly" teasing him.

Eyed her "Ok, so are we gonna go through this again. Get me to sit with you just so you can mess with me again?"

"Of course, but I know you are willing to face that humiliation for the right angle" giving him a sly smirk.

He sighed knowing she was right and sat down beside her. He tried to resist his instincts but his eyes ventured to her, not in any specific area. He was just admiring the beautiful fox to him, and even though it may have sounded creepy. He could smell something on her fur, didn't know if it was soap, perfume or whatever but he liked it.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his cheek from a flash of orange "Caught ya staring" she said. Turns out she had given a light slap to the cheek letting him know she was paying attention.

He blushed even though they had just spoken about him calling her out and stuff, and rubbed his cheek. It may have been a light slap but her hand was way tougher then it looked.

"Did you have to hit me so hard?" he whined slightly.

She smirked "Awww, is Sly gonna cry?"

"What if I do?' he asked not planning to though.

"Then I'd call you a baby who can't handle a light bitch slap" she chuckled.

"Hey wow, I am not your bitch!" he said.

"According to the slap you are" she smirked back liking that idea.

"Well that was mean anyway" he pouted.

She smirked and watched as the movie reached its end.

"Well, that was a sweet movie, except it sounds stupid that the alphas had to be with alphas" she said expressing her opinion.

"You realize that's like saying a thief and cop can't be together" Sly pointed out.

"Well… I… the difference is… this isn't a movie?" making a crappy excuse since she had no real answer.

Sly smirked "Ya, whatever you say Ms Fox"

The ox really didn't like getting her words used against her but she had to admit he was right. Except for the small problem of that becoming a conflict of interest and she'd be fired for allegedly helping whoever it may be.

The credits rolled down the screen and Sly said getting up and walking to the tv. He took out the disc and placed it in case "Well Me Fox, I think I'll take my leave" He wanted to get back before Bentley and Murray started getting suspicious of his activities.

"Aww leaving so soon, I got another hour to kill" she fake begged.

He chuckled "As much as I'd love to stay and speak with you more I want to get some rest. I guess since you set this movie night up I'll decide what we can do next, so look out for something from me" he said walking to the window.

She followed him out of courtesy, kinda like how you'd see your guest out at the door. "Well raccoon it was a nice movie, and thanks for the pizza" she said genuinely happy she got to watch Alpha and Omega.

"Your welcome Ms Fox," he said before slipping out of the window and jumping out disappearing into the night.

The fox watched him leave, if only for a moment since he blended into the night quickly. After that she closed the window and yawned before going to bed.

**Hey what's up guys, sorry this took awhile, I got stuff going on with school so it's hard finding time to work. Plus playing videogames takes up a bit of time too. So thanks for all you patient readers and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Admiralkirk95**


	4. Game night

**A/N Hello everyone nice to write to you again. Now just so nobody gives me the "You are totally ripping off this other story for this chapter" I'm gonna tell ya, yes… I am. But I asked the author who actually helped with the idea of this chapter and also gave me permission to use his own idea from his story. While reading his I was like "…Holy crap… why have I not seen this more often and why haven't I thought of it?" I'll tell you why because my mind thinks logically and if it feels not plausible enough or goofy enough I don't try it. But this idea was so odd I never even thought or considered it. Then I saw it in action and I was like "OMG this idea is actually pretty funny"**

**Now for any of you who have read this guys story in progress you'll know ho I'm talking about and that's slycooper978. So give partial thanks to him for giving me the idea and situation. I saw the situation and was like "How could I do this my way" and the problem with that is I will definitely subconsciously take a bit from him by accident. I'd also like to say that for anyone who may not know this but I type my authors notes in this order, I do them first before even starting the first sentence of the chapter. Consider it my thoughts at the beginning and my thoughts at the end. So please and enjoy.**

**Also now officially have two people saying I should do a carnival one, guess I got to do it now. It may take a bit because I'll probably need to get through winter, can't imagine going to a carnival when it's snowing will fun.**

It had been over a week since Carmelita had last seen Sly and unlike how she normally thought, she welcomed seeing him again whether it be on a heist or to hang out.

It was starting to get colder as the winter months were slowly approaching. Just cold enough now that she wasn't walking around in her normal and admittedly revealing attire. Forced to wear her jeans, a shirt that actually covered more then just her chest and thicker jacket. It was so cold now that she found herself cuddling with her own tail because it kept her warm. Made her realize that soon she'd have to add some extra blankets to her bed.

Even with all that she couldn't do that right now. Right now she was making her way down main street to go and see if Sly had left a message for her. He promised to schedule the next day they'd hang out and so far nothing had found its way through her window.

After walking a bit and rounding a corner she found the alley she had previously left her first message. She had to admit this felt a bit like spy work, something she didn't really do too often. Usually she'd be assigned to protecting a famous piece of art or attending a social event. She hated to admit it but if she appeared at a ball or event that was specifically to get rich people to put some money into Interpol and help her appearance was usually enough. Basically she was thrown into a dress and used as eye candy to get them to give over some money.

This felt like real spy work though, so secretive nobody in the entire world could know about it and that was exciting. She was used to exciting, considering half her job was chasing and shooting at bad guys, but this, this was her hiding from everyone on the planet except one person. It was exhilarating and for the last few nights kept her up. It was a constant game to her now and made even the most boring moments of the day have the slight twang of tension that someone might come around the corner and say "Hey I know what you did"

All of this ran through her head making her look around at every possible angle to see if someone were watching her and waiting to hop out and yell "AHA" and accuse her of assisting Sly all these years.

It was the appearance of a note behind inside the air conditioner. It made her heart race, like receiving a mission. Which made her nearly pass out seeing what it said.

_Hello Ms Fox, I know I may be sounding totally crazy when I say this but I think we should have a game night. Now you may be wondering 'crazy, how is that crazy?' well it's actually because I noticed you don't own a console and I'm not risking damaging mine by bringing it to your place. So I'm asking, will you drop by my place and we'll hang there and play? _

_Now wait a sec I know what you are thinking "are you stupid?" and maybe I am but I trust you, three separate chances to catch me and you didn't even try in the slightest and I thank you for that. And I do have a plan, you give me a night you are free and I'll keep it discreet. Just say yes or no and if you say yes give me a few dates alright?_

Like her said there was a yes and no box below and a small space for if she did check yes.

All of her instincts were saying no, this was going way too far, but that exhilarating feeling was starting to rise. It was already a massive high having him in her apartment but now she'd being HIS hideout.

Although this also made her smile because he actually trusted her enough to reveal his hideout to her.

After some thought she finally checked yes, and she could practically feel her heart beat faster in excitement. She only had the next weekend off so she wrote that down and placed it inside the air conditioner.

With that she left still feeling almost paranoid but also excited.

It was only then she realized "I don't even play videogames"

Hours later…

It was night and Sly was making his way along the rooftops. He had found some time to get away from Bentley and Murray to go check and see if Carm had answered his message yet. He left it there about two days ago. Since it was night it was even colder then the day so he bundled up too.

He now wore a grey scarf, a light coat covering his shirt. Although he didn't change his pants, he still needed to be as agile as he could.

He finally reached the alley and hopped down. Looking into the air conditioner he found what he had been hoping for.

Even more to his delight she actually checked yes and gave him this weekend as her time off. He smiled and made another note which simply said "_Alright, I'll get everything ready, meet me here at 5pm on the Saturday. Then I'll lead you to the hideout"_

Once he finished that he placed it inside and ran off into the night still very nervous that Carm might be still playing him. If that were true he'd arrive on Saturday surrounded by Interpol.

He tried to think past that and headed home to make everything ready and find a way to get Murray and Bentley out of the hideout that night.

Saturday, 5 Pm…

It was a cold afternoon, even colder then before. Carm was wearing what she had worn before but now had a scarf, mitts and a hat, but had holes so her ears stuck out.

"W-Where isssss that Rac-coon?" she shivered checking her watch.

She'd been waiting for almost ten minutes in the alley for him thinking he'd be eager to come pick her up, and as much as she didn't like the idea of even thinking he was 'picking her up' it was cold. She rubbed her arms trying to keep warm and wrapped het tail around her own legs to help keep them warm too.

Finally she heard someone jump down behind her "Hello Ms Fox, sorry I took so long"

"Y-you are damn well right t-too be s-sorry" she shivered.

Sly could tell she wanted to go and said "Alright come on, let's get going. We'll talk when we get there"

She nodded eager to get out of the cold.

With that the two walked down the street heading toward his hideout. Carm managed to ask "S-so, how'd you get your friends to leave?"

He smiled "Well it was a bit easier then I thought, Murray has a demolition derby today, he finally got his vehicle fixed, as for Bentley he had said he was off to go talk with some contacts for future information. We'll be alone for the night"

She accepted the answer and said "Well let's hope that they stay out for the night"

He smirked "What you want to be alone with me all night?"

Despite the cold she could feel her cheeks warm up in embarrassment realizing just how suggestive that came off but said "You get any ideas and you lose your fingers"

"Jeez I was just joking, calm down" he defended having no intention of abusing this situation.

She mostly believed him, he was quite tame despite all his flirting, so she decided to let it go and continued to walk with him.

After a bit they started entering the less desirable part of the city. She expected he lived in these parts but still asked "I feel like I'm gonna get mugged"

Sly let out a chuckle "Ms Fox, are you scared of average criminals? Nobody is gonna mug you. I got a a lot of reputation here and they know if they steal from me or a friend, they are gonna be missing a few possessions in the next few days. What I do suggest is you get rid of your collar, or atleast the Interpol badge"

She almost yelped realizing she was wearing that and tried really hard to get it off but a combination of her realizing it and the cold made her hands shiver too much to get it off easily.

Sly chuckled and said "Here I'll get it"

He leaned over even through Carmelita protest and slipped his hands under her chin to start unclipping the badge.

She almost swatted him away on reflex because his hands could easily get around her neck. But unlike any other person she felt kind of safe and even started to blush. He was so gentle in doing it, not even tugging at all. She was so flustered that she almost forgot to say something.

"Hey, if you eyes drop any lower then my neck you're gonna be on the floor buddy" threatening him even though she was actually quite flattered.

He chuckled "My eyes are only apon your badge" but secretly he was fighting really hard not to look down a bit. Plus he she smelt nice and he didn't want to look like a creep sniffing her fur.

After what felt like a few minutes, but were only a few seconds he got the badge off and handed it over to her who put it in her pocket.

"…Thanks Ringtail" she begrudgingly said even though her heart had actually been racing through the whole moment and was finally starting to slow down.

"Your welcome Ms Fox" he said once again leading her down the street.

They reached an abandoned building and Sly stopped at the front door.

"Seriously, this is where you live, this run down piece of crap?" The fox asked totally confused, she always expected him to live in atleast something better.

He simply said "Looks can be deceiving"

He unlocked the front door and walked into the run down building. Despite what Sly had just said that place looked even worse inside. The stairs had missing steps, the floor slowly rotting away, dust everywhere and chunks of the ceiling were missing revealing the next floor above.

"So far the only deceiving part is this place looks even shittier then the outside" she said arms crossed.

Sly chuckled "You'll see in a moment" he walked over to the only piece of floor that good and without warning pulled the floor up like a trap door.

This made Carm suddenly uncross her arms she realized what Sly meant, this wasn't the hideout, it was essentially the blanket covering the hideout. So she walked over as Sly revealed what was below.

There was a flight of stairs that led down into the darkness and Sly gestured for her to go down first. She cautiously started walking down as he held up the floorboards so they'd not fall on her head.

"There's a door just inside the darkness, so try not to walk into it" he warned waiting for her to find the knob.

She finally felt the stairs end and reached out feeling the door and found the knob and opened it. When she did this Sly walked down the stairs as well and closed the floorboard behind him and followed her inside.

She looked around somewhat surprised at what she saw. What came to sight first was the living room, which was a couch and chair looking towards a reasonably sized TV, maybe 32 inches. There was also a space that she guessed was specifically for Bentley since he was no in a wheel chair.

She remembered that day when they defeated Clockla. It was somewhat a bittersweet victory. Even though they beat the former cat Bentley had lost the use of his legs. It was almost enough to make her let Sly and his gang go, but her job was to arrest them so that's what she tried to do. It was only when Sly had said he'd freely allow himself to be arrested if she let his friends go that she let her conscious get over her duty.

Now she kinda regretted doing that because that sneaky turtle ended up bing the reason Sly escaped again, but she felt it ok. It made her choice between her conscience and her job easier. They helped her restore her name and job and she had felt that gave them a free pass.

Carm snapped back into the current time and continued to look around.

Next to the living room was the kitchen, nothing too special, but it was obviously a guys kitchen. Not quite a as clean as she would keep it.

Sly said "So like what you see now?" walking further inside.

She had to admit, it wasn't what she expected. She was expecting the walls to be covered in everything he had stolen but it was actually either just wall or pictures of the three friends at various times in there life.

She was still blown away that nothing here looked to pricey, it felt quite normal.

So she walked after Sly who was heading to his room to get everything ready and said "Look around a bit if you want"

The fox was surprised "You're gonna trust me to freely walk around your hideout?"

He shrugged "Well if you don't want to do that you can come in while I get undressed into something more comfortable"

She took his very obvious hint "Alright fine I'll look around" making him smirk and close the door as she walked away.

She passed by the two other bedrooms since those were Bentley and Murry's and walked further. In one room was a small weight room. Another was their planning room, there were no plans going on and she snapped "Man I could have used that against him"

She toured around a bit more until she heard "Alright Carm, seen enough?" she jumped turning around to see Sly who was now in a tee shirt, and trackpants.

She nodded "Ya I guess so"

He smiled and led her back towards his room and let her inside. This was where she was expecting his room to be filled with stuff but there was almost nothing. Bed, desk, closet, TV, game console, a few shelves and pictures.

This finally made her ask "Ok I got to ask, where is all the stolen stuff?"

He looked at her oddly "Not here, nowhere close to here" he said leaving it at that.

She crossed her arms angry that only did she not know where all the stuff he'd stolen was but he wasn't saying anymore either.

"Alright Ringtail what are we gonna do?" since she'd never really played any videogames so she was following his lead, which she hated.

"Well let's choose something to play first of all" he opened a small door under his TV and started grabbing all his games.

She looked at them and some of the cases looked familiar, mostly from commercials.

He started listing off ones they could play "Ok here are some games we could play that are co-operative. I got "All three Borderlands, Halo, some racing games uhhhh Guitar Hero and Rockband, left 4 dead" he listed through then reached one more and laughed "Ya and I got the army of two games but you and I don't think we could co-operate well enough for that"

She looked at him oddly but joked "Ya you're right because I'm an army of one, I don't need you"

"I don't remember it being that way when Clockwerk captured both of us, you and I definetly needed to help eachother to win that" he smirked.

She sighed, he was absolutely right "Well that was a one time deal"

Sly almost mentioned another few times she needed him help but let it slide and asked "Ok so which ones sounds fun?"

Carm then felt a bit anxious and said reluctantly "I… don't know… I don't really… play games" She admitted.

He looked at her and smiled "I kinda had a feeling, si I'm using this to also teach you" he said deciding on something.

He decided that a good game would be "Army of Two the fortieth day"

"Alright so we'll try this, since it's a cooperative game I can watch your back" he slipped in the disc and turned on two controllers, one for himself and her.

The game booted up and Carm asked "So how do I do everything?" it felt so awkward that she was taking advice from Sly of all people.

He chuckled "The game has a tutorial at the beginning, you'll get the basics then figure things out as time goes on"

After he stated a new game he said "I'm Rios you be Salem, he reminds me of you more then Rios" he chuckled.

She wasn't quite sure what that meant but apon reading the description of hi said "I'm not a hot head!"

Sly chuckled "You aren't helping your case"

The fox reluctantly backed down and waited as the opening cutscene went into the game. To her it felt weird, controlling movement and sight with two sticks.

Sly could tell she was having trouble and said "You'll get used to it soon" as he leaned backwards against his pillow to get comfortable.

It was hard to get used to the controls but adfter a few minutes she was starting to get the hang of it, the rest was relatively easy to get used to. This button to run and roll, that trigger to shoot and that to aim. Those made more sense to her.

So when the combat finally started it caught her off guard but her instincts as a cop started to kick in and she was getting into it. Even though she wasn't too good Sly was there to keep her alive and take agro.

"This agro mechanic is kinda cool, I can see why it's such a cooperative game" she said finding the game fun, especially when she managed to kill some guys finally.

He was glad she was having fun and said "Well wait until we have to split up, you won't have me to directly help you"

She said "Wait there's points where we aren't able to reach eachother?"

He nodded "Yup, on the higher difficulties that's where the game can get very difficult"

She nodded and they played for awhile, Carm slowly got used to the game and became more of an asset then a liability.

"There ya go" Sly said seeing her starting to have fun and understanding how to play.

She smiled but was slowly getting more and more focused.

They played fir about an hour before Sly asked "Want something to eat?"

She had to admit the time flew by and realized she was quite hungry "Oh ya, that would be nice"

Sly paused the game and got up with Carmelita following. In the kitchen he asked "So what do you feel like having?"

She asked "Well what do you have?"

He rummaged through some things and said "Well… I got pasta, left over pizza from last night, sausages…" he listed off a few others but Carm thought "Well how about some pasta and sausage?"

Sly nodded and started to quickly make some food and said "This will take a bit, if you want you can go back and play something while I cook"

The fox was a bit surprised, once again letting her go freely through the hideout. She wasn't going to try anything but the gesture meant something. She took his offer and went back. Since the game saved automatically she didn't have to worry about that and popped the disc out.

She rummaged through all of his games, even the singleplayer ones and stumbled apon a name she heard a lot in commercials. 'Grand theft auto san andreas"

She looked it over and decided to see what all the acclaim was for, she knew it was about playing as a guy on the opposite side of the law. So she opened up the case and saw the disc and also a sheet of paper on the other side full of almost random codes on it that said "GTA Cheats"

Not being a gamer she asked herself "Cheats?"

Shrugging she decided to put in the disc and try it out. The logos popped up and within a minute or two she entered the game world.

Like Army of Two it had relatively the same movement controls but the other controls were a bit different. After some experimentation she figured out a bit, like jumping sprinting, pulling out her guns and aiming.

Still experimenting she ended up the street and stopping a car and accidentally pressed one button and stole the car ripping the man from it.

"Wait what!?" she said surprised by her sudden actions and because of her police background said "Sorry I'm commandeering this vehicles for… reasons"

Before she could even figure out how to drive the guy she stole from came back and ripped her character out of the car too then proceeded to beat the crap out of him until the screen said "Wasted"

During the small fight Carm said "Hey I didn't mean it!"

When the death screen disappeared she appeared by the games nearest hospital and noticed she lost cash and all her guns and said "Uhhh… oops" Being Sly's save she was worried he might get angry at losing all the cash and money not knowing how easy it would actually be to get it all back.

A little scared to tell him that she kept playing hoping she could fix it somehow and tried walking up to a car again, this time parked and nobody inside. After hitting the same button she saw her character break the window open and hotwire the car.

"Oh… thought he'd just open the door" This was obviously not what she expecting.

So after some more experimenting she learned how to drive that cars in a basic way and got on the street. Almost instantly smashing into another car gasping.

"What the fuck asshole!" the other driver yelled.

She gulped and saw him get out and try to get to her car door and out of no where back up while turn to the left which knocked him over making her gasp again.

Not understanding the game she thought "Oh my god I just ran him over!"

To her surprise the man just got up and tried again. She tried to back up but in her racing mind hit the wrong trigger and drove forward and ended up running him over again.

Once again the fox gasped and got out of the car to find the man was now actually dead and said "I ran a man over!"

Right then a star appeared up at the top of the screen and the small minimap started showing flashing red and blue dots.

Even to her it was obvious that they were the police and she being who she was waited for them to show up and arrest her.

To her surprise instead they gunned her down.

"What the hell!?" You are supposed to arrest me assholes!" to her that was super unrealistic, and actually pissed her off.

The door opened and Sly said "What are you yelling about?"

She jumped hearing hos voice and realized she had not only died and lost money twice but also all his weapons and said "I started playing this and I… I died and lost all your stuff" ears back feeling bad for what she did.

He looked over and saw she was playing Grand theft auto and started laughing.

"What?... HEY! What are you laughing about!?" she said getting angry again.

He couldn't stop laughing getting the fox really mad, but eventually he stopped "Is that all you did, here I'll fix it" he said walking over and taking the controller then the cheat page and punched in a code.

"There, got all the weapons back" he smiled showing her.

"huh? How'd you do that?" she said not getting it.

"I used some cheats, just do the code and it will do stuff, see this one will summon a car, this one will make your cars fly when you drive fast enough, and this will make the vehicle you are using make any other vehicle instantly explode if you even touch them" he explained a few.

"Oh… so… I didn't do anything bad?" she asked to make sure.

"Nah, as long as you don't save you won't ruin anything, the game is made to mess around with at this point because I've finished all the missions" he explained.

"Oh… I ran a guy over and the cops gunned me down!" she said still angry at that.

Sly once again laughed, he knew why she was angry but said "It's a video game, half the pedesrians will attack you for hitting their car or pushing them in the street"

"Oh… well I guess that explains why that guy ran at me when I hit his car… I freaked out and accidentally ran him over"

Sly could barley hold back laughter, he was cutting her a bit of slack for not understanding the game and said "Carm, don't worry, it's a virtual world and you are playing as a criminal, do whatever you want ok? Now I got to get back to the kitchen ok, try to have fun and relax"

She nodded and when he left she tried doing stuff. For now she just wanted to get a car and drive. So with some difficulty she tried to drive around the city obeying the traffic laws feeling if she didn't the police would gun her down again for a minor crime. But soon she got impatient since the lights and traffic were way too slow and finally just said "This is a game time for fun" and started driving like a maniac.

To her surprise after braking over ten infractions no cops came and the only problem she had was cars honking and occasionally hitting another vehicle which she'd just drive away.

"This is more fun then I expected" she said, but instantly afterwards lost control and slid onto the side walk hitting three people.

She went wide eyed in fright again but then realized "Wait it's a game, forgot that"

Like before the police came and this time she didn't make the mistake of waiting for them and drove, suddenly getting even more fun.

The chase was on and she noticed the single star turn into two.

"Guess that means they're trying harder?" thinking to herself.

Still driving like a crazy person she avoided the cops attempts to catch her by swerving through traffic, with bullets flying by.

"Now I know how Sly feels" she said to herself.

Eventually she accidentally ran some more people over after a cop car hit her and raised the stars up again "Hey that you fault, should known that was gonna happen" once again angry at how the police had disregard for safety.

Suddenly she pressed a button which made her character throw something out the window "What was that?" she said.

Her question was answered when she heard an explosion behind her and noticed some of the dots chasing her disappear.

"Was… was that a grenade?" she asked surprised and tried again, once again her character threw a green speck out the window and another explosion was heard.

Smirking apon realizing that they were grenades she kept doing it, even learning that she could prime the grenade to explode earlier, although she was a bit scared to hold them too long and risk blowing herself up.

Because of all the destruction the three stars became four.

"Show me what you got cops" she said to herself getting into the game a lot now.

It was fun but the police were getting aggressive and numerous and she was out of grenades. With the aggression they were able to damage her more and the car was slowly taking more damage.

Carmelita didn't know how far a car could go in the game taking damage, would it just stop suddenly unable to go any further or set on fire forcing her to stop or just explode.

None of the options pleased her very much, the car stopping meant instant doom if she got out or stayed inside. Fire definitely wasn't good, and explosion well that wouldn't end well either.

After a few more minutes she finally got her answer and the car lit on fire, in her panic she just kept going too afraid to get out an within a few seconds the vehicle finally exploded bringing up the death screen.

The fox only found it as a challenge and started experimenting again. After getting a a new car she saw what else she could do, look backwards, switch to single handed weapons, even a horn.

Once again getting the cops on her and after using the weapons cheat again to get grenades back she tried to fight back against the police. That didn't end well since it was hard to shoot and drive which caused her to crash then get gunned down before she could get going again.

She growled finding the game annoying but also, fun and hard to stop "I will figure out how to do this?" she growled.

It was around there that the door opened to reveal Sly with two plates. The smell of pasta and sausage. "I got food" he almost sang.

She sniffed and remembered she was hungry and said "MMM Smells good"

He handed one over "Hope you enjoy, were you having fun?"

She smiled "Ya it ws fun, in a frustrating way"

Sly laughed "I bet it is, what happened?"

She then went into a detailed description of what happened "Well after you leftagain I tried to fight the police again and ended up losing bad but I learned how to throw the grenades, and then I tried to shoot at them but I crashed. That game is hard" she said.

He chuckled and said "Sounds like fun though. I had trouble doing the shooting and driving stuff, but once you get to know the streets better and get used to the game you find it easier to drive.

Made sense to her too and she began to eat. The sausages tasted great, as did the pasta and she complimented him on his surprisingly good cooking.

He smiled but scratched his head not feeling like it was that good "Well with three guys in the house someone has to know how to cook I guess"

She nodded and they ate for a bit switching to tv. In time they both finished and Sly was about to put the dishes away when he heard something.

Then he heard a thud finally "THE MURRAY IS HOME!"

Both fox and raccoon froze before Sly turned off the tv and then grabbed Carmelita and pushed her into the closet.

Unknown to him after years of living with guys when you push someone it was on the chest, not quite what you want to do with a woman.

With both the raccoon and fox now locked inside his closet she looked down and noticed her had somehow forgotten to take his hands off her and whispered "Hey raccoon, mind your hands"

"Huh" he said looking over then went wide eyed and like lightning got his hands off and blushed madly "S-sorry"

She rolled her eyed but then asked quietly "Why is he here!"

He shrugged "He was supposed to be at a demolition derby"

"Well he doesn't seem to be there anymore" Carm chastised him.

Then she realized something "Why the hell are you hiding?"

"I'm not supposed to be here either, I said I was scoping out a place for the night, if he finds me here then he'll get suspicious for not doing that" he explained.

"Well great job raccoon, your hide out has only one way out and I'm not supposed to be here" she said harshly.

"We never planned for this" he whined "What would ever make us believe this?"

"You always have an escape plan" she chastised again.

"Well we can keep arguing or try to figure out how to get out of here" he said not wanting to get into an argument right now.

She rolled her eyes but agreed "Ok smart ass, how are we gonna get out of this, preferably soon so we don't have to be practically grinding up against each other" making a point to let him know it was cramped in here.

He tried to think, well maybe if we're lucky Murray will head to his room and we can sneak out then" he thought.

She knew that was the only real choice they had and said "Well then we'll have to get out of this closet to listen"

He nodded relieved that they were gonna get out of there, he wasn't sure how long he could hold himself back, that would have been awkward if she felt something poke her.

After quietly slipping out of the cramped space they went to the wall to listen.

On the other side they could hear Murray walking around then say "Man I'm hungry"

"Ok he's gonna make something to eat… wait, shit I hope he doesn't notice I recently cooked" he said.

She rolled her eyes "He won't notice that… hopefully"

In time they heard him humming a tune to himself then say to himself "The Murray is gonna enjoy eating you"

Sly shook his head "Not only does he talk to himself but if we didn't know he was cooking that could go a whole nother way"

Carm actually found that a bit amusing but shushed him just incase.

Within some time they heard Murray walk by then his door open and Carm said "Ok, let's go" he nodded and they quietly left his bedroom.

Almost tiptoeing they made there way for the exit and made it to the living room when they heard Murrays door open. Sly dived grabbing Carm and they landed behind the couch and out of sight from where he had come out.

Carm noticed he had landed on top of her, apparently he hadn't too concerned they'd be caught and blushed lightly.

"Oh forgot a drink" the hippo said opening the fridge and then walking back to his room.

Both fox and raccoon sighed and Sly finally realized he had tackled Carm and was on top of her and quickly got up and silently apologized to her incase Murray could hear.

She was too surprised by it still to get angry but both of them headed for the door again without interruption. Silently opening Sly left second incase Murray once again came out and he could act like he was just coming home. Luckily this didn't happen.

Once they got up the stairs and outside Sly and Carm both sighed and the raccoon spoke first "That was too close… well hope you had fun until Murray came home" he smiled nervously.

She nodded "Ya it was, thanks for letting me come over, I'm glad you trust me enough for that" she felt quite good knowing that "I promise I won't take advantage"

He nodded back "Thanks Carm, and umm… sorry about… the closeness" meaning the two times they got close to eachother while hiding.

She scratched her head but joked "Well I'll let those slide since we had to be quiet"

He smiled glad she was forgiving enough "Well need me to walk you home?"

She shook her head "Nah I'll be fine, see you around Ringtail" she smiled before making her way down the street.

He watched her walk away and had to admit tonight was fun seeing the officer play and enjoy playing Grand theft auto was hilarious. He waited awhile outside before going inside and acting like he'd just come home and was greeted by his big friend apparently none the wiser that anyone else had been inside the hideout at all.

**So here it's finally done, sorry guys. This week was the last week of school for me until January meaning exams, so I didn't really have time to write often. Once again review any ideas you may have for future chapters, I have a solid idea for a Christmas chapter which I may or may not do but it'd be nice to hear your opinion on whether I should do it. If not I'll skip over it and just mention Christmas in the next chapter. So thanks for reading and especially for waiting.**

**Admiralkirk **


	5. Merry christmas

**A/N Hello reader people, I'm so glad you(well actually anyone who reviewed atleast) enjoyed the last chapter, you can thank Slycooper978 for the idea of gaming and being in the hideout. Also 50 out of 10 man didn't know that chapter was gonna be that good. I personally had fun writing it despite me only playing San Andreas once a LONG TIME AGO, so I used what I learned from GTA 5 to figure stuff out, couldn't be that far off right?**

**So anyway this is my Christmas themed chapter hope you all enjoy, I don't think it will be worth 50 out of 10 but I'm gonna try and make this more heart warming. Hope you all enjoy.**

It was a dark and stormy night, nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. The streets below were empty but lit by streetlights, for who they were lit for nobody knew. For everyone was home getting ready for a certain fat man to bring his jolly cheer, and it wasn't Murray.

Sly left the hideout once Murray and Bentley had fallen asleep. Wearing his extra warm clothing he made his way through the city. The wind was cold and even his clothes and fur weren't gonna keep his teeth from chattering.

The cold also made him a bit more stiff making it hard to jump from building to building, so he made sure to take it easy. After a awhile he reached his destination. Scaling down the building he reached the window he wished to find and with some difficulty, due to his gloves opened it up.

Inside he felt the warmth and closed the window so as not to let any warm air from the apartment. In the now familiar sight, the living room now had a Christmas tree, not super big to take up too much space but about and inch taller then him. Walking over he kneeled down and took off his backpack. After unzipping it he pulled out a wrapped box and placed it under the tree. On the present was a tag

"From Sly to Carmelita, Merry Christmas inspector"

He smiled and was about to take his leave but noticed a faint voice from another room. He walked over silently and found the voice was clearly Carmelita inside her bedroom.

He listened in pressing his ear against the door…

"Tell the family I said hi, and Merry Christmas. I wish I could see you this year" Carmelita voice said, followed by a muffled voice which sounded like it was coming from a phone.

"I know… I don't blame you mom, it's alright. I know times are tough and Barkley isn't giving me any days off right now…." The voice spoke again, sounding a bit louder "Yes I know he's a hardass mom, but he has a reason to be. I fail all the time to do my job especially with the raccoon and it makes me and him look bad. So I don't get enough days off for Christmas to come home" he heard a sad sigh. She obviously really wanted to see her family really bad.

Sly frowned, he felt bad not only because Carm wasn't able to see her family during this family oriented holiday but also because he was to blame for that. If he wasn't around or she caught her she could be in charge or expected enough to have her time off. He wanted to do something for her but couldn't think of what.

He continued to listen though "Alright Mom, I'll try and talk to you tomorrow ok, tell everyone I miss them, and that I wish them a merry Christmas" he then heard a quick reply from her mom "I love you too mom" she then hung up and another loud sigh was heard.

He felt really bad feeling now like he was obliged to help her out and tried to think.

Before he could think of anything he heard her get up and walk to the door making him dash off to hide. He zipped around the corner as she came out and walked in the opposite direction to the kitchen. He could tell she was holding back tears and could tell she was feeling very much alone.

He couldn't blame her, this apartment could easily be a lonely place and the fact that she couldn't see anyone she loved right now made it worse. He finally decided that as much as this was his fault, she needed to see a friendly face.

As she went into the kitchen he walked over and waited patiently for her to turn around. From what he could tell she was making some hot chocolate for herself.

When she turned around she was sniffing her beverage then looked up and nearly jumped so much that she almost spilled.

"Jesus Christ Ringtail! Don't scare me like that!" she said clenching her chest for a moment. Then quickly but obviously wiping away the tears from her eyes.

He felt another pang of guilt from that "Sorry, so how is everything?" he asked.

She gave him an odd look, he usually didn't start off like that, and she could feel that he had something else going on in his mind "What are you up to raccoon?"

He reacted by saying "What do I have to be up to something all the time?"

"No but you are acting different" she said taking a sip of hot chocolate but then hissed as it burned her tongue.

He said "Well it's Christmas, people act different this time of year" he said making an excuse.

She let the question slide and asked "So why have you stopped by my home, shouldn't you be with your friends celebrating?"

"I was doing that, but we are friends too, so I wanted to stop by and wish you a merry Christmas. And drop off a gift" he explained.

"You got me a gift?" she asked feeling bad that she hadn't gotten him one now.

He shrugged acting like it was no big deal "Don't worry, you don't need to worry about getting one for me" he said not expecting anything in return.

She nodded still feeling kinda bad. She took another sip finding it a bit more tolerable now then walked to the couch to sit and watch tv.

Sly walked over but didn't take a seat until she motioned for him to which she did.

He sat in the chair from before and sat quietly for some time. The silence was awkward so Carm asked "So what do you do for Christmas anyway?"

"Well usually Bentley, Murray and I, spend the night having fun then go to sleep, and in the morning get our gifts open then finally spend the day out and about enjoying Christmas" he explained. It was pretty normal.

She nodded "I usually travel home to America to see my family… my very large family" she said.

Sly feigned ignorance of what he heard earlier and asked "So why haven't you gone then, I'd expect you to have gotten on a plane days ago?"

She sighed looking down into her hot chocolate "Circumstances weren't on my side this year and my family doesn't have the money to bring everyone over here. My mom offered that a few family members could come here but I didn't want anyone to be away from the larger portion of the family so I offered to stay here while they all stayed back home" she said. She left out the part that the reason was because of Sly even though he already knew unknown to her.

The raccoon frowned and said "You if you had told me earlier I could have re-arranged my schedule to spend some time with you, I mean if you even wanted that?" he said seriously meaning it.

"You are kind Ringtail but you don't have to, I'm fine. It's just one holiday" she smiled, he was sweet to offer and she knew he meant it which touched her.

"I'd still do it though" he said genuinely.

She smiled warmly and even felt a bit of warm inside from "Well thanks Ringtail, it… means a lot you know… my family is really close and I rarely get to see them, Christmas was always a reliable way to see them, until now" she frowned her ears pointing down a bit showing her depression.

He didn't like seeing her like this and walked over and sat down beside her and said "Please don't be sad Carm, I mean I may have friends who are basically my family but just know that you can still call your family and hear their voices. I have a great time during this time of year but I envy anyone who even has the ability to hear their families voice"

The fox had actually forgotten that he had no family left and felt bad for acting not seeing her family was the end of the world. Atleast she had them, and they were alive, and could hear their voices. Sly on the other hand had no family, murdered years ago which probably made it even harder.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to sound ungrateful" she said feeling like she had offended him in some way.

He shook his head "No it's alright. I mean I can understand it being hard knowing they are alive and not being able to see them. I just want you to be happy right now and know that it could definitely be worse off"

She smiled, feeling warm that he was so willing to help her, and in all honesty it could e worse, she could be in so much more of a rut, at the end of the day she had a warm home, a family and making it through the day with the skin on her teeth still. He really put things into perspective.

"So Sly, you gonna go home now?" she asked expecting him to return home and enjoy his night.

"I think I may stay here for a bit" he said surprising her but was also grateful.

She gave him a smile and said "Thanks Ringtail, I wish I had gotten you something now, especially after that pep-talk"

He smiled "Your warm company is all I need" and stared into her eyes making her blush a bit.

"Well then I guess that's all I need to do, so how should we spend the next few hours?" she asked staring at her drink.

He sat quietly thinking and said "Well, wonder if any Christmas programming is on, like Rudolph" he said hinting that maybe she could turn on the TV.

She got the hint and flipped on the TV then flipped around and Rudolph was coincidentally on right now.

He smiled and sat back to enjoy while Carm did the same. The part where the abominable snow man came up and Sly said "When I was little he was one of the scariest things I'd ever seen"

She laughed "Really? That thing doesn't look scary at all?"

He blushed and said "Hey I was five at the time!" trying to defend himself.

She laughed at the raccoon, secretly she had been afraid of a few stupid things back when she was young "Awww well I bet you were afraid of the mall santa too right?" it was more of a joke but he reacted differently.

"…Sort of" he admitted feeling like an idiot in front of her now "Remind me why I came here when I'd just be made fun of for what I feared as a child?"

"I was joking Ringtail come on!" she said a bit afraid he meant that and was gonna just leave.

He rolled his eyes feigning anger and said "Well tell me what you were afraid of"

She thought it over and decided it wouldn't hurt "I was afraid of monsters in my closet, and under my bed" she said feeling an idiot.

"Ah, the oldest one in the book" he chuckled "It's alright, I assume not anymore right?"

She shook her head "Nope, now I'm afraid of the thing that sneaks into my home and sometimes watches me sleep" meaning the raccoon himself.

"Hey! That was one time" he said joking because he'd never come to watch her sleep…. He always had another reason to be there and just got caught up staring. Moonlight did something to her fur that made it really hard for him to not stare.

She rolled her eyes and then Sly said "I think you talk in your sleep, I mean it's usually mumbling but I hear it sometimes when I break in"

"I do?" she asked worried at what she may have said aloud.

Honestly Sly had tried to listen a few times and got a few words here and there enough to sort of get the jist and said "Ya most are about me?"

Her heart started racing worried at what she may have said "Right, I doubt that" she said hoping that'd be enough to sway him.

""Nope I clearly hear my name a lot, in what context, I can't say" He honestly said.

She sighed in relief and said "Probably me wanting to wring your neck" which was what she thought of sometimes, not lately though.

He nodded "Wouldn't be surprised actually" chuckling since she had in the past threatened him like that.

Both settled down and continued to watch Rudolph. Eventually Carm feeling cold leaned onto Sly smiling. This caused him to smile too and he wrapped an arm around her like the first time they hung out in her apartment.

It eventually ended and the raccoon and fox were still in the same spot, infact Carm had snuggled up more to him. He looked down and said "So you enjoy that?"

She nodded getting up from him "Ya it was fun, haven't seen that in awhile actually" smiling. He nodded also getting up.

"Alright I guess I'll be on my way" he felt he'd over stayed his welcome and his two friends were probably missing him by now.

She felt a bit of sadness hearing that but understood he had places to be. Although she wanted to thank him for taking the time from his own family to help her out and turned.

He hadn't noticed and was making his way to the window when he felt a hand on his shoulder "Listen I know you got me a present so I think I owe ya something"

He turned but was surprised to see a plant in his face. Well it was a fake plant apon close inspection but he recognized it as mistletoe. It lifted up to reveal Carm holding it over their heads and she suddenly planted a kiss on his lips.

He was really surprised by that but she quickly ended it and said "There, my gift to you" she giggled at his face.

He was clearly blushing and said cleared his throat "Well… thanks… hope you… enjoy mine in the morning" scratching his head nervously.

"I'm sure I will" she smiled watching him awkwardly back away towards the window.

He nodded totally tongue tied and fumbled with the window finally getting it open as Carm shouted almost mockingly "Merry Christmas Ringtail"

He nodded and jumped out leaving her alone and chuckling lightly.

With that she went to sleep.

In the morning …

Carm awoke in her housecoat, first grabbing herself a coffee before making her way to her living room. Her small Christmas tree still up with only a single present under it, didn't bother her too much. Her family had said they'd mail her their gifts and it would come in a few days.

Leaning down she grabbed Sly's present and slowly opened it. Inside was a box which she opened and inside laid a new shock pistol. Next to it was a note.

"You can probably tell this gift was definitely meant for you, despite how much of a pain in the butt it will be for me in the future I thought you could use a new one. Merry Christmas inspector, From S"

Underneath was a drawing of his insignia.

She smiled and said "Oh I'll make sure to return the favor next time we meet in the field" she chuckled evilly just eager to meet the raccoon again so she could test it out.

**So here is my Christmas one, hope you like. I feel it wasn't that great, and kinda short but I wasn't sure what to do honestly. But I wanted to get this out before Christmas and I just barely made that deadline(never been good with deadlines which is why I never promise deadlines) SO anyway wait for another chapter I'm sure I'll have another in a bit… or more whatever happens.**

**Admiralkirk95**


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